ITATUE OF THE CHINESE GOD OF WAR.

THE CHINO-JAPANESE WAR, 1894—95. 52 event of victory. But Oyama knew by this time what kind of an enemy he had to deal with. He felt a regular siege would have been a piece of useless pedantry,and, boldlyplaying for ahigh stake, he resolved to venture on the attempt to takePort Arthur by a coup-de-main.

bombardment. Suchaplanof action wouldhave meant certain disaster if there had been anything like a real defence;and even against the worst trained of European troops its success would only have been remotely possible, and that at the cost of enormous losses even in the